International car-free day: Alternatives to cars making progress

Berlin. When it comes to mobility, more and more people in Germany and Europe are making use of public transport. To mark Thursday's international car-free day, the German Pro-Rail Alliance has pointed out that the car's position as the first choice for personal transport is slowly losing ground, whereas the market share of the railways shows the largest growth rate. "The alternatives to the car are making advances. This trend can clearly be seen in the statistics for Germany and Europe," said the managing director of the Pro-Rail Alliance, Dirk Flege, on Wednesday in Berlin. Official German statistics for the period between 1995 and 2009 show strong growth in the performance of the railways, with a 15 percent increase in person-kilometres. This compares with growth of just nine percent for motorised personal transport. The figures for Europe show a similar picture. According to the European Commission's Statistical Pocket Book (EU Transport in Figures 2011), growth on the railways (including trams and metropolitan trains) between 2005 and 2009 was nine percent, whereas the performance increase for car transport was only five percent during the same period.
 

"Of course, the dominance of the car, with its 85 percent market share in Germany, really puts our jubilations into perspective," admitted the Pro-Rail Alliance manager. "However, pioneering countries such as Japan or Switzerland demonstrate where the development in society could take us." The 2009 market share of the railways in Japan was 29.8 percent, and in Switzerland the market share increased to a respectable 17.5 percent and continues to grow. "The Japanese are the undisputed world railway champions, and the Swiss are and will remain European champions," said Flege. In spite of Germany's relatively modest market share of 10 percent, measured in person-kilometres, the trend line was nevertheless still pointing upwards.

The International Transport Forum (ITF) has diagnosed the same trend for selected countries measured against a global benchmark. In its latest chart, the ITF sees signs that the car is losing its appeal and that its growth rate has peaked in industrial countries such as the USA, Australia, the UK and Japan.

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